it became clear that San Francisco is merely ahead of the California crazy curve. and there it is...
Posted on 05/11/2010 7:57:58 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
I am State Senator Russell Pearce, the author of SB 1070, signed by Governor Jan Brewer. Maybe liberals ought to read the Constitution, case law, or even just the bill itself before citing incorrect information. Fear mongering and misinformation are opponents’ only tool against this common sense legislation.
Illegal is not a race, it is a crime. SB 1070 simply codifies federal law into state law, removes excuses and concerns about states’ inherent authority to enforce these laws and removes all illegal “sanctuary” policies.
When do we stand up for Americans and the rule of law? If not now, when? We are a nation of laws, a Constitutional republic.
Arizona did not make illegal, illegal. Illegal was already illegal. It is a crime to enter or remain in the U.S. in violation of federal law. States have had inherent authority to enforce immigration laws and have failed or refused to do so. Sanctuary policies are illegal under federal law (8 USC 1644 & 1373), yet we have them all over the United States.
Paul Kantner of the 1960s rock band Jefferson Airplane once remarked, “San Francisco is 49 square miles surrounded by reality.” When I first heard that San Francisco was planning to boycott Arizona over the SB 1070 legislation that I introduced, this description seemed fitting.
However, when neighboring Oakland’s city council voted 7-0 to boycott Arizona last Tuesday, and President Pro Tem of the California State Senate Derrell Steinberg announced a campaign in the Legislature to boycott us, it became clear that San Francisco is merely ahead of the California crazy curve.
Why did I propose SB 1070? I saw the enormous fiscal and social costs that illegal immigration was imposing on my state. I saw Americans out of work, hospitals and schools overflowing, and budgets strained. Most disturbingly, I saw my fellow citizens victimized by illegal alien criminals. The murder of Robert Krentz — whose family had been ranching in Arizona since 1907 — by illegal alien drug dealers was the final straw for many Arizonans. There are dozens and dozens of other citizens of our state who have been murdered by illegal aliens. Currently, 95 illegal aliens are in Maricopa County jail for murder.
Most of the hysterical critics of the bill do not even know what is in it. All SB 1070 does is allow Arizona law enforcement officials to detain illegal aliens under state law. The law does not allow police to stop suspected illegal aliens unless they have already come across them through normal “lawful conduct” such as a traffic stop, and explicitly prohibits racial profiling.
Aside from the unfounded accusation of racial profiling, the chief complaint about the bill is that it infringes on federal jurisdiction by enforcing laws. However, there is a long legal precedent going back to 1976 that allows states to pass legislation to discourage illegal immigration so long as it does not conflict with federal law. SB 1070 was specifically designed to mirror federal immigration law to avoid such a conflict.
For all their newfound respect for the authority of federal immigration law, the open borders advocates who oppose SB 1070 have no problems with “sanctuary cities” such as San Francisco that explicitly obstruct federal immigration authorities to protect illegal aliens. In 2008, San Francisco began a campaign to encourage illegal aliens to take advantage of the city’s public services.
Mayor Gavin Newsom stated, “We have worked with the Board of Supervisors, Department of Public Health, labor and immigrant rights groups to create a city government-wide public awareness campaign so that immigrants know the city won’t target them for using city services.”
The results were tragic. A few months after the campaign, Edwin Ramos, an illegal alien and member of the MS 13 gang, murdered San Francisco resident Tony Bologna and his two sons who he mistook for rival gang members. Ramos had a lengthy criminal record including a felony assault on a pregnant woman. He was arrested on gang and weapons charges and promptly released just three months before the murder. Not once did San Francisco report him to immigration authorities.
One month after the murder of Bologna, illegal alien Alexander Izaguirre stole Amanda Keifer’s purse and then intentionally ran her over with an SUV, laughing as she hit the pavement and fractured her skull. Four months earlier, Alexander Izaguirre had been arrested for felony dealing of crack cocaine. Not only did San Francisco refuse to turn him over to immigration authorities, city officials expunged his record and helped get him a job, which is criminal in and of itself.
Keifer asked the obvious question, “If they’ve committed crimes and they’re not citizens, then why are they here? Why haven’t they been deported?”
The answer is that politicians like Gavin Newsom put the interests of illegal aliens before the safety of American citizens, not unlike Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and others.
Our law is already working. One can just scan the newspapers and see dozens of headlines like “Illegal Immigrants Leaving Arizona Over New Law: Tough, Controversial New Legislation Scares Many in Underground Workforce Out of State.”
In contrast, American citizens are leaving California. For the last four years, more Americans have left the state than have moved in.
In criticizing the SB 1070, President Barack Obama said, “Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others.” There is nothing irresponsible about enforcing our law, but President Obama is right in that this is only necessary because the federal government does not do its job.
The solution is not “comprehensive immigration reform,” a euphemism for amnesty. This will only encourage more illegal immigration. Making illegal aliens legal does nothing to change the social and fiscal costs they impose on Arizona or the nation as a whole. In fact, the Heritage Foundation’s research puts the cost of amnesty at over $2.5 trillion.
The federal government simply needs to enforce its immigration laws by cracking down on employers of illegal aliens, securing our borders, and deporting illegal alien criminals. Attrition by enforcement.
If states understand states’ rights and our Constitutional duty and responsibility to our citizens, this legislation in Arizona will be a model for states across the nation and the federal government and it will end illegal immigration to America, but President Obama is looking toward San Francisco instead.
If you’re a white person driving south of the border, say tijuana or Ensenada areas you are likely to be pulled over by Mexican police and shaken down for money. They’ll make up some charge like speeding (which you weren’t) and demand to know how much money you have on you, (hopefully you have most of your money hidden well). If you don’t have enough money on you then you will be arrested and maybe even beaten up by these bastards. You will be taken to Mexican jail until you can have someone send you enough money to pay these criminals off. All only because you are a white American and they think you are rich.
It all amounts to RACIAL PROFILING by Mexican police thugs who are just out to “legally” rob you just because you’re not a Mexican and therefore are fair game.
I have many friends that this has happened to, and I’ve heard many more stories of this and worse. Anyone you talk to in SOCAL that has been to Mexico will attest to the truth of this.
I’m not saying that we should profile, but the people who decry this law as profiling should at least consider the huge difference in our two countries police.
I got news for you-there was already a boycott of SF and LA LOOONG before 1070 was an issue. I know people (including myself) who need to be dragged to SF-and I live an hour away from that cesspool.
Does the question really come down to the rule of law vs the rule of twisted special interests? That’s not even a choice.
A few years ago there was a stink over Chicago sending their homeless to Arizona.
“Anyone you talk to in SOCAL that has been to Mexico will attest to the truth of this.”
Bollocks. I live in Socal and travel to volunteer at an orphanage in La Mision, halfway between Rosarito and Ensenada. I’ve never even been stopped, much less stopped and shaken down for cash. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen, but to say it’s a common thing to be stopped for no reason, beaten, and thrown into a Mexican prison is ignorant fear-mongering. And it’s no better than the American media shoveling sh!t about how there are decapitated bodies lying all over Mexico and bullets flying faster than the wild west. Go visit Door of Faith orphanage (dofo.org) and you’ll see the REAL Mexico.
(And just to keep it on-topic: politicians like this make me want to move to AZ. Those folks have restored my faith in humanity among legislators.)
Actually it is economic profiling. They will shake down a Mexican citizen also if they think they have money. The Mexican citizen will probably pay less as he knows how "la mordita" works.
I am a white boy that speaks Spanish. My wife is from Mexico but her English is much better than mine. They insist on that when you teach at a University in Texas. We will no longer go to Mexico unless it is by plane to a tourist area where it is safe. Years ago I would travel all over Mexico by car in perfect safety. Occasionally I did pay a little "Mordita." Today I read in the papers about Mexican and American citizens being murdered on the same road I drove in the past.
It has all gone to hell South of the border.
I forgot to add, “I MISS THE OLD DAYS OF MY YOUTH ON THE BORDER.” I think they are gone forever.
I’ve heard from a friend of mine who has a Spanish speaking girlfriend with him when he goes that it helps a lot if someone in your car speaks Spanish, but he still always hides most of his cash keeping 50-100$ to pay off just in case. It may happen to Mexicans too but believe me they are looking for American license plates.
it became clear that San Francisco is merely ahead of the California crazy curve. and there it is...
Good news! Keep it up folks. BBLA, Boycott the Bay area and LA!
right on, right on, right on...
Funny you should mention that. A couple of weeks before the Arizona bill was passed, and then signed into law, I was visiting my family in California, and they shanghaied me for a day trip to San Fransicko.
If it weren't for the fact that I haven't seen them in years, and really did miss them, I would have passed on that outing in a heartbeat.
Fortunately, I only had to donate parking money to that Commie city by the Bay. My kin picked up the rest of the tab that day.
We're outraged when Pelosi has the gall to ask priests to support amnesty when her butt should have been excommunicated for her stance on abortion long ago.
We're grieved by a former body builder who has run his state into the ground claiming that he is “afraid to go to AZ because his Austrian accent might get him deported.”
And we're furious when our moron of a president stands before a crowd and tells them that if you take your kid to get ice cream in AZ you're going to be profiled.
The abject irresponsibility of all of these and more individuals has finally lifted us off our seats and our voices to the skies saying “No more!”
No more.
I’m with you! We will not set foot in Mexico anymore. In PV, we were at a Pemex (govt. gas station). They didn’t roll it back to zero the first time and then tried to short us change! So it is not just the border cities. Friend was arrested for urinating in a public place even though he was doing so with other bar patrons from Mexico. He got arrested! Came back to the US with no money or jewelry. It’s a lawless hell hole, IMO. Don’t see the need to throw away more money to folks destroying America when I can fix a damn good margarita at home and food that won’t poison us!
"You can imagine, if you are a Hispanic-American in Arizona — your great-grandparents may have been there before Arizona was even a state. But now, suddenly, if you don't have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you're going to be harassed. That's something that could potentially happen. That's not the right way to go."Source.
Too bad Senator Pearce didn't quote that in his article.
Bastard liberals & socialists.... I hate em more every day, especially 0b0z0, commie RAT bastard usurper-in-chief.
I think the economic, rather than racial, angle is far more likely. I’m also a white boy and my wife is Mexican (and we’re both bilingual)... but again, we simply haven’t had any occasion to even test the theory that that makes any difference. I believe the “mordita” part (which is the way things work in nearly every other part of the world outside of the US, not just in Mexico!), but I *don’t* believe everything I read in the papers. Having driven the drive a number of times over the last year and having had my wife and numerous friends work in the slums and garbage dumps of Tijuana, I just haven’t seen the ubiquitous violence most US media is claiming.
I think the idea is that the chances of an American being willing to pay the bribe is higher than a Mexican being willing to do so.
And BTW, I didn’t call you a liar or even insinuate it. I simply said that you cannot just “ask anyone who lives in SoCal”—I live in SoCal and I just cannot agree with what “everyone” here “knows”. To repeat myself, I’m not saying it doesn’t happen (and whether it happened to you or friends is immaterial as evidence that it happens to everyone). It certainly sucks when it does happen, the whole arresting and beating and throwing into Mexican prison... I’m just suspicious that it’s not quite as widespread as all that. No offense intended, brah. :-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.